


Brand New World

by Undomiel21



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, F/M, Female Stiles Stilinski, Full Shift Werewolves, Nemeton, Not Underage, Tags May Change, Veterinarian Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:59:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29206248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Undomiel21/pseuds/Undomiel21
Summary: In their efforts to win the war against the supernatural humans destroyed the Nemetons of the world and with them most of nature. Now, humans live in enclosed cities with a tightly controlled artificial environment and all supernatural creatures are treated as prisoners or research subjects.Stiles Stilinski is getting her degree as a veterinarian naturalist and works at the city animal clinic with her friend Scott, everything is perfectly normal and a little boring until she is left in charge of the clinics new patient. A huge black dog with blue eyes that looks awfully like a wolf, but that can't be can it? after all they have been extinct for more than a century.She is just gonna roll with it and take Balto for a walk.Peter is not amused with his new human.
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 10
Kudos: 75





	1. Stray Dog

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism is always welcome, hope you enjoy!

“That’s it, you are okay now, it’s okay.” Stiles croons in a soothing voice while carefully manipulating the enormous dog out of the cage. “Dude, you are huge,” she says still in the same gentle voice when the dog limps closer to her. His black head reaches her stomach easily.

It’s too big and too dangerous for her to carry, she should put him to sleep and muzzle him to properly check his injuries. Instead, Stiles is trying with sweet nonsense and bait of ham to see if he will get himself onto the examination table. 

She is just smart like that.

Stiles could just press the button for the remote control of the collar and make her job much easier but she doesn't want to knock him out. She doesn't know how many times the retrieving crew used the tranquilizer before dropping him off at the clinic. His hind leg is lame, probably broken, and his dirty coat is matted with patches of sticky blood all over, he moves like he is in pain and she hopes that he doesn’t have internal damage. 

Stiles may be in charge when Finstock isn’t around but she hates to perform surgery alone, is not that she is bad at her job, she simply prefers to have backup in case she screws something up. She also hates to perform surgery and would very much like to push that nasty bit onto someone else whenever possible. 

Even in his weakened state, the dog looks wild and menacing with his dirty, bloody fur. The crew that brought him over told the staff to be careful because he had tried to attack them several times. So Stiles really should had been professional about this and follow the procedure by not opening the cage and letting him out. Fortunately, he is very calmly looking at her with bright blue eyes and doesn't seem like he is going to take advantage of her foolish self. He seems so friendly with his tail wagging softly that she actually wonders if she can pet him before securing him but she restrains herself. She has been bitten a lot of times for doing exactly that.

“That’s it, just a bit more, you are doing great,” she says extremely pleased with herself when the dog hops onto the examination table and meekly waits for her to attach the collar to the security cord. 

Now she indulges her urges and softly reaches to touch. She waits until he sniffs and nudges her hand before going ahead and running her fingers through his thick coat. The dry blood and dirt make it a lot less satisfying than it should be. It's still pretty awesome. She may be a professional naturalist use to handle animals but she rarely has the opportunity to be face to face with anything this big. The clinic’s usual clientele is made up of dogs the size of chihuahuas, cats, and the occasional fluffy rabbit. 

“Now hold still, love,” she keeps talking to him while passing the X-ray tablet over him. 

He has a small crack on one of his ribs which must be causing him pain and his hind leg is broken but it looks like a clean single break, she changes the function on the tablet to see the skin tissue and then the internal organs. 

“Can’t see any internal damage, aren’t we lucky, just a bit of bone healing to do.” She says with honest relief “Now let’s see where the blood came from. Did you take off someone’s arm on your way here?” she asks in the baby voice she reserves for her patients. 

The dog is surprisingly easy to handle, she doesn’t get what all the fuss was about. Well, she gets it, the dog is huge and looks a little bit too much like a wolf but it’s definitely not as aggressive as they claimed. He seems almost pleased at her fingers running through him, looking for injuries. She wonders if maybe the retrieving crew was at blame, those guys did not know how to handle animals, and seeing one so big may have made them even worse at their job than they already were.

“Well that’s impressive,” says Dr. Finstock from the door at the back of the room “I heard he almost ripped a few throats out, there may be a rumor about some missing fingers.” 

“Maybe he just doesn’t like douchebags, I saw the new guy rattling the bars of his cage, Coach. You should fire him.”

“Mmm the blond one that looks like he is smelling his own shit all of the time? I knew I shouldn’t have hired him.” He says with a sigh “I guess I’ll let him go after a few weeks of cleaning duty. We are short-handed.”

Stiles knows Finstock has been too busy to interview the hired personnel himself and the HR girl that is in charge is very new herself. The clinic has been expanding since the new laws that allow regular citizens to have pets passed a few months back. Before that, they had the occasional rich citizen with a pet that needed regular care and the injured from the preserves and City Park. Now they have visits from House Pets owners every day. Good for business, not so much for the little creatures.

House Pets that were allowed for average owners were nothing like the gigantic dog in front of Stiles, they were lab-made small animals that promised easy care and cheap diets. Their average lifespan was around five years. Stiles didn't want to imagine the manufacturing process, she already hated those creepy labs. She had heard rumors that Argent CO had pushed for the manufacturing and trading of House Pets, not that it was surprising they were literally everywhere. Her cereal probably was made by them too. 

“Sounds good to us, doesn’t it boy?” she says to the dog and it huffs as if in agreement making Stiles chuckle. 

“Be careful anyway, those teeth are huge, he looks like a bloody wolf” He says looking with suspicious eyes at the dog. 

“Yeah, he really does, you are a very handsome fellow aren't you?” she coos wondering if they used actual wolf genetic material on him. 

Just like most large animals, wolves had been extinct for more than a century but many facilities used a lot of resources into bringing back extinct species. It was mostly a huge waste. 

“He is totally fine though, hasn't even snapped at me once, is really friendly.”

“Sure it is… So what’s the report, Bilinski? Do you need help with him? That woman that looks like cotton candy is here again” He says with distaste born from long time suffering of weird owners.

“A cracked rib, a clean fracture on the back leg, and what looks like it’s going to be a lot of stitching,” she says uncovering a big gash beneath the dirty fur “I should be fine.”

“Make sure the collar has enough tranquilizer.” 

“Yes, Coach, I already did but I’m going to clean him a little first, he looks like he likes the attention.” She says, still running fingers on his coat.

“Shout if he eats you.” He says before leaving.

“You know, if I didn’t know it was impossible, I’d say you are an actual wolf.” She says "Are you an illegal specimen? Yes, you are, but that’s a problem for the security people. Now, let’s see those injuries my little outlaw. Don’t eat me.” 

The examination goes without a hitch, which is very unexpected, Stiles is beginning to think that this wolf-dog is actually domesticated. Most of the animals she has to work with are either too traumatized or too wild for her to handle without at least a little bit of snapping teeth. Especially if they are injured and in pain like this one. The wolf dog is letting her handle him and clean the wounds without baring his teeth only growling softly when she puts too much pressure on his injuries. He actually seems much more distressed by the shaving she needs to do before cleaning the wound than by the actual cleaning and stitching. 

“Come on Balto,” she says when he flinches again at the hair cutting machine “don’t be a diva, this won’t hurt at all and it will grow back quickly. Actually, you are so dirty I should probably cut it all off” she mutters under her breath.

The dog has a lot of small cuts all over and while they’ll probably heal on their own she finally decides to take him to the tube and wash him thoroughly with antiseptic soap. She ends up trimming most of his coat, chunks of matted fur and dirt covering the floor and exposing how thin he is. So maybe not a pet? He looks blissed out by the warm water and Stiles massages him way more than she needs to before drying him carefully, mindful of his injuries. 

“You like taking baths, huh? You are a weird dog, Toby” she says trying out a new name, while she wraps the big gash after he miraculously allowed her to stitch him while awake. She is starting to wonder if he has some condition that lowers his pain sensitivity.

“Well it doesn’t seem like the infection is spreading, you don’t have any fever, which is very good Hachiko, you don’t need any surgery, just some patches and time to recover.” She says to the dog that stares at her with what looks like a very unimpressed dogface “Not Hachiko uh? Very well Bruce let's give you your pills and be over for the day.” 

Stiles takes a bottle of flavored pain pills from the cabinet and offers him one.

“Come on, Bruce, they are delicious and will take the pain away. It says so on the bottle,” she adds, giving him convincing eyebrow play that Bruce ignores “come on I don’t actually want to push my luck opening those jaws and I’m not sure there’s any ham left. Is just a pain pill. Or is it the name? aren’t you feeling like a Bruce? Yeah, I don't think it suits you either.” 

“Okay then let’s get you back on the kennel Chaser," she says when he finally takes the pill "I’ll come back tomorrow morning.” 

The dog complies, going to the kennel with barely any guidance and curling on the floor as much as his bandages let him. He is probably exhausted, which is no wonder, the poor thing had been found on the edges of the city and doesn't look like he has had any care in a while. Which is odd. He was spotted by a concerned citizen and then captured by the Office of Wildlife Preservation. His origins are unknown. 

She and her weird boss, who insists on being called Coach Finstock for some unfathomable reason and could never remember her last name, both work for the office. Finstock has been in OWLP all his life and Stiles has officially worked with him for a year but she has also been in this facility for much longer than that. Her dad had been the security officer assigned to the clinic, his job consisted of making sure everything was legal, clean, and safe for the animals that came and went and mostly keeping the clinic safe from poachers. John Stilinski had been a single father with a full-time job and a hyperactive little girl that required time he simply didn’t have, so Stiles ended up spending a lot of time after school at the clinic. Seeing the animals in and out had been almost a magical experience for little Stiles that had never before seen real animals around, she had fallen in love with them. When she was a bit older she grieved their loss once she understood why there were so few of them. 

The world Stiles was born into had very few animals left, most of them confined to natural preserves heavily warded and constantly monitored.

In the war against the Supernatural, humans had finally disrupted the balance in an irreversible way. They searched the areas where the Nemeta were hidden and burned them. Whole forests gone to ashes so there was no chance for the sacred trees to survive and once the Nemeta died everything around them died too. Animals, plants, and supernatural creatures alike. Technology had advanced in such a manner that humans needed very little from nature anymore. They had terraforming machines to control the weather, they had big towers in the cities to clean the air, big mills where to clean the water, and big labs where to make meat directly from a petri dish. 

With very little need for animals or for plants, their fear and hatred went rampant and the attacks in their effort to destroy all supernatural creatures contemplated no consequences. When all the Nemeta died, along with their surrounding ecosystems, the world had long reached the point of no return and technology could do nothing against a loss that humans didn’t understand completely. 

Somehow the death of the Nemeta kept the lands from regenerating and instead of deep forests they now had big cities. The greenery that adorned the homes of the rich and big corporations buildings was mostly growth on labs, genetically modified to survive in harsh conditions since the earth refused to cooperate. The gardens were very few and very hard-earned.

The remaining supernatural creatures were confined to camps called Detachments at the edge of the cities where they lived in miserable conditions. Once in a while there was news of attempted escapes from the Detachments but weakened and highly sought after, the supernaturals either didn’t survive on their own or were hunted down. 

Humanity had won but for Stiles, it always felt too much like an empty victory. 

Stiles was lucky that she got to work with the remaining specimens of a shattered nature. OWLP had been created after the mass extinction to preserve the little bits that remained. They also worked sometimes alongside the Hunters that still safeguarded the citizens against the occasional supernatural that made their way into the city. Poachers were also smugglers or had dealings with them and they cared very little about the species they transported. Stiles’ dad had only dealt with the smuggling of animals but the OWLP and the Hunters often worked together when there was suspicion of supernaturals being involved. 

Stiles hated them a little every time she saw them, Hunters had been the leading force of the war, after all, and continued to treat the supernaturals much worse than animals at the Detachments. 

Hunters like Chris Argent were in her expert opinion an unnecessary relic of turbulent times.

"Stiles” He greeted with his usual smile, an almost imperceptible one. Nicholas wasn’t the most expressive person. He was in command of all the Hunters in the city and as an Argent was also in charge of the city’s Detachment. He looked just like the no-nonsense stern leader that he was supposed to be. All tall and badass in his black uniform. Stiles was a bit of an exception for Chris, hence the little smile. He sometimes indulged her as he would do a daughter and Stiles would always feel a little awkward about it.

She always felt a little awkward about everything concerning Chris actually because she was never sure if she liked or disliked him. She liked Chris because he was not only very hot, he was also an honorable man that believed in what he did and was always willing to help Stiles with anything and everything out of some weird sense of duty towards Stiles’ late father. At his core, he was a good man but Chris was a hunter and Stiles could not always get past that.

Hunters were highly respected, especially the Aegent Hunters but Stiles was more in line with that part of the population that thought all of them were just bigots. And honestly, she wasn’t all too concerned by the moral implications of this, what bothered her the most was the implications of the lack of intellectual capacity that this implied. 

She didn’t mean to say Chris was an ignorant fool but sometimes she could just not disregard how ignorantly foolish most hunters were.

“Hi, Chris, what’s up? Oh Scotty I thought you would come in tomorrow.” She greets as she realizes that her friend and colleague is coming in behind the hunter with his dopey smile and puppy brown eyes. No wonder Scott is so good with animals, the guy is the least threatening person ever. Even his dark hair looks fluffy and harmless. It makes quite the contrast with Chris with his blue eyes that never miss a detail and greying short hair, if you pay attention Chris actually does have very soft eyes, is just that no one ever notices because of his reddy-for-action attitude. 

“Yeah, but Coach told me there was a huge dog that you might need help with.” 

“That’s why I’m here actually” Says Chris “I heard it was found roaming around the edge of the city walls, any idea where it came from? If it’s really that exotic I doubt he was someone lost pet, it may be from outside the city or an underground lab.” 

“Well, you would have to ask the boys about the location, I wasn’t on the retrieving crew but nothing really exotic about it, just a little larger than average dog” she lies through her teeth shrugging and hoping they don’t ask her to see him because Chaser could easily be mistaken for a wolf or be very closely related to one and very likely to catch unwanted attention not only from the Poachers but from Argent CO and the Hunters “I just finished with him actually, he is big but very gentle, no problems with him at all. Probably used to belong to someone in the city, he was very easy to handle. I was about to tell Finstock about it, see if there are any missing pets. Really, these people, you would think that after the very expensive permits they go to the trouble of getting they would at least think twice before losing their pet but no. I mean seriously how selfish can people be? there must be a limit to it, you would think that almost destroying the world would be the tipping point but it’s like there was no point to the whole massacre” Stiles babbles on hoping to distract them, it’s fine since talking nonstop and nonsensically is one of her trademark movements. It works easily with Scott who nods sympathetically but Chris is narrowing his eyes at her knowing perfectly that Stiles is trying to deflect.

“You sure it’s a pet? Easy to handle isn’t exactly what the report said” He asks 

“Please,” she snorts “those new guys get scared with a kitten, he might have been a tad aggressive with them but the blond one was provoking him in his cage, you know poking at it and rattling the bars and stuff like that. The asshat. The dog was totally fine with me.”

“What? Why would he do that? That’s awful” squeaks Scott full of righteous anger. Like a growling bunny. 

“Yeah, Coach is going to fire him. After putting him on cleaning duty for a while,” she says and Chris smiles a little bit. Good. 

Stiles doesn’t know if it’s wild and was captured from one of the preserves or if it’s someone’s pet that got lost or if is some underground lab success story about to be sold in the black market, as long as Chris doesn’t ask her to see it. 

If he does his interest will be picked because exotic creatures are always the main target of smugglers and the ones willing to take the chance to transport such animals are often the ones willing to transport supernaturals, and if it catches Chris' attention then he will catch someone else's attention and go straight to some lab where he will live a short and miserable existence.

“Well, I guess this was a waste of time… but let me know if nothing turns out in the owner search, it’s odd that it’s not chipped,” says Chris obviously not convinced. 

“Maybe it was a new pet or maybe it was smuggled, either way, is not like the dog can tell you who did it,” Stiles says 

“Stiles… I won’t take him to the labs, now, is it really as big as they say?”

“If you open a new case based on one animal at the clinic you have to report it and everyone will know and he will end up in the labs whether you take him or not. Not like you care” Stiles says acidly. 

“And how will you keep him from the labs if it is actually rare? You also have to report it whether I open up a search or not,” Chris asks her with more patience than most people have for her.

“I’ll manage,” she says dodgily “It’s just a big dog Chris, not a coyote or anything like that, is not a weird species, it's just big.” 

“Big enough that you won’t show it to me,” he said with a sigh “I won’t report it Stiles, but if you are doing anything illegal...”

“I’m not! I just want to send him to a preserve before anyone notices he was here.” 

“All right, but you could have just said so,” he said raising a disappointed eyebrow “See you around, let me know how it goes,” He says and walks out. 

“Man, why do you always have to pick a fight with Chris? It never even works. Don’t know why, he is happy to pick fights with me” Scott says sulking

“Maybe because I never dated the man’s daughter” She answers and rolls her eyes “Come on I have paperwork to do,” She says pushing Scott towards the exit “Oh, wait I’m forgetting my keys” 

She steps back to the examination room where she left Chaser in his cage and his blue eyes are laser-focused on her. “Oh, did we wake you up? Sorry love, hunters you know? can’t keep their noses to themselves. See you tomorrow buddy” She says grabbing her keys from the table before going to Scott who is poking his head looking open-mouthed at the dog.

“Dude, that's huge,” Scott says “it looks like a wolf.” 

“Which is why I think the labs would jump at the chance to get him, get his DNA samples, try to breed him, clone him and keep him there in case they need anything more.” 

“But it’s good if they clone him, isn’t it? We get more diversity in dog breeds and maybe even a wolf, wouldn’t that be awesome? You are always on about ecosystems and diversity and stuff.” 

“And now I know you don’t pay any attention to it,” she says with her most unimpressed face “Scott we can’t have diversity because we don’t have the space or the natural resources to maintain the species. And you know how many of them die in those labs? No one knows how to keep them alive and most are infertile. It would be awesome if we could have more of everything but the labs are not the answer. No wonder you are failing classes, I know you are not going for the Naturalist degree but you are still a vet you should know this stuff.” 

“Hey, I did much better this term,” he complains.

“Because Allison was horrified at your test results. They were very horrifying.” 

“Speaking of which... you don’t actually need my help right?” Says Scott in a hopeful tone. 

“Nope, unless you want to do my paperwork, which you are very welcome to.”

“I think I’ll pass. I was going to see Allison” He says grinning. 

“See? that’s why Chris doesn’t like you. See you tomorrow. Oh, and make sure you submit those papers tonight Scotty.” 

“I know dude, the date limit is till next week though.”

“I don’t care if is next month you always forget so you better do it tonight or I’ll phone you every single night date you have from here till next year, Scott” 

“I’ll do it as soon as I get home.” He says “See you tomorrow” 

“Have fun” She says distracted by the many forms she has to fill and making a mental note to send a text to Ally and ask her to make sure Scott submits the permits, the guy is forgetful like a granny, and all their plans to go to live in the Beacon Hills preserve are resting on those files.

She gives a tired sigh and goes to the front store to see if Finstock needs help with anything before she can go home. 

  
...............  
  


Peter watched her go from within the cold uncomfortable cage he was in, he was given dog food again, he ate it before because he had been starving but the girl looks like she is soft on strays, if he waits enough she will try to feed him something else, maybe some more of that ham. 

The indignity of it all stopped bothering him a while ago, the time he spent at the werewolves Detachment had been more than enough to rob him of every bit of shame and scruples that he may have possessed, granted, they were never that many, to begin with. 

Now he is not above to make lamb eyes to a stupid girl and play nice with her as long as she feeds him and keeps the rest of the humans away. He hates them all, nice girl, weird boss, hunter, and friend included. He may even hate her more than the asshole rattling his cage and prodding at him. At least that one was an honest dirtbag, this girl is nice as long as he is, but the moment she feels a hint of danger all privileges will fade. He hates her more because she is nice and she has no right to be. Still, his instincts crave a gentle touch and soothing voice, he wants contact and pack, he wants to feel safe and all that only makes him hate her more.


	2. Questionable Procedure

Stiles lives at a twenty-minute walk from the clinic, her apartment is big for this city standards, and while she doesn't live at ground level like the rich people she is not in a skyscraper either. 

She lives in a more than decent fifth floor in a nice building with a view of the City Park, the most greenery inside the city walls, with its pretty lake and ducks that she has seen at the clinic occasionally.

The ground level houses are the biggest ones. With their very expensive dome gardens on top of the roofs, they give another touch of life to the lower levels of the city. 

If you look from above, the little gardens around the Park can look like an extension of it, circling the green patch until they fade into metal and concrete as you go farther away from the centre. Then there are the city walls, they reach up to the fifty floor and if you are higher than that you can see beyond them. The Detachment tower on one side and the Energy tower at the opposite end of the city. 

And then the endless earth cracked, dried and death. 

The skyscraper's citizens barely see any green, up there there is not enough space or money to maintain any kind of garden so instead of greenery and the occasional animal Stiles gets to see, they have neon lights and music. There is always a party up there and the higher you go... Well, the higher you go. Stiles spent some of her teenage rebellious years roaming around the seventy floors.

With the introduction of House Pets the higher floors may see some life recently but before that, only people living lower than the tenth floor were allowed pets. Stiles had never gotten one because the permits were too expensive, still were if you wanted an actual animal. Rodents, rabbits, dogs, and cats were the only ones allowed for commercial trade. Any other kind of animal was sent to the preserves or kept in the City Parks. 

Very rarely, if the number of one species grew enough and it was deemed harmless enough, it was put on sale for the rich and eccentric. Stiles had once met the unfortunate but very pompous owner of a raccoon.

The last few months though, the owners of House Pets had flooded the clinic. The lab-made fluffy creatures were no bigger than your average bunny, needed to be fed once a week and little else. They were absolutely adorable and gave Stiles the creeps.

Scott had been talking non-stop about getting one with Allison and why Stiles didn't get one too? Stiles didn't want one of those creepy little buggers she had always wanted a dog but had never seriously considered getting one, first and foremost because she didn’t have the money. 

Her house was already way lower than the levels she could actually afford on her salary. Originally she lived on the twelfth floor right beside Scott's apartment.

"I'm home," she said to her empty home to activate the house AI.

"Welcome home, Stiles" said the empty house in her artificially smooth voice.

"Shut up, Cerebro" Stiles ordered, she never liked the AI to respond to her by voice, it unnerved her and made her feel alone, which she was but no need to be reminded that her only company was an unfeeling computer program.

She also had read the works of Asimov and had lived in fear of Cerebro for many years when she was a child.  Despite it Stiles didn't leave Cerebro behind when she moved after her dad's death.

The city took great care of their orphans and since Stiles was just a few months from her eighteen birthday when her dad passed away they gave her the insurance money and offered her a new apartment on the lower ten levels at a suitable distance from college while she completed her studies. 

Stiles had not wanted to leave the apartment she’d lived with her dad. She didn't want to leave Cerebro or Scott or the oak tree she had planted with him when they arrived at this new city, she would have refused if it hadn't been for Chris coming along and arranging for the very expensive transport of Cerebro and a tree. He shouldn't have bothered. Stiles' career was six years long, she only had one semester left and she didn't plan on staying in this city afterwards. 

Before her dad’s death her plan had been to stay and work with him at the OWLP office just like she was doing but afterwards she just wanted to leave and there was only one place she wanted to go. She was going back to Beacon Hills.

Beacon Hills preserve was one of the biggest still standing in north america and the one with the major diversity of wildlife, a veritable paradise that Stiles remembered fondly from her childhood days. 

Of course, people were not allowed inside the actual preserve but her dad was one of the OLWP officials in there and always allowed her to sneak in even if it was just at the very edge where the offices and research facilities were at, just so she could see the woods up close and learn the smell of the living earth. 

A little further from the woods was the employees building where they used to live. Even from the distance, the faraway forest was a sight that she had grown up with and Stiles treasured the memories of the place with the huge trees and her mother's laugh echoing the songbirds.

After her death his father had asked to be relocated, not capable of bearing the place without his wife. So he and Stiles moved to the City when she was eight years old. She met Scott, and infected him with her love for all animal, plant, fungus, or not identifiable living beings.

Stiles’ Naturalist degree was six years long but even though they both went to vet school that lasted the regular four years, Scott had taken a sabbatical and worked for a while before finishing his education and somehow was finishing his studies at the same time as Stiles even when he wasn't getting a degree as a Naturalist. She appreciated the company.

Stiles was applying to work at the Beacon Hills preserve, she had crafted her courses aiming for that particular job, she was an expert in all living and extinct creatures that had ever been part of the Beacon Hills Preserve and had started working with Finstock to gain experience precisely for this. She had bullied every professor she could into helping her out. She was getting that job even if it killed her.

Or so she hoped, working at one of the preservers wasn't an easy position to get and she was probably too young to be considered but they had been planning and scheming and working for years to make it happen. She had contacted her dad's old friends to help her out and in a matter of months, Stiles was going home. 

Even if she had to ask Chris for help which would probably be the case because she had yet to hear a single positive response from her many many calls.

Scott was also applying for a job there, the lucky bastard had actually worked there on his sabbatical with Dr. Deaton, an old friend of his family that had taken him in and welcomed him like a son. Which was the reason Stiles had Scott submit both their resumes to Dr. Deaton. 

She would throw a fit if Scott got the job thanks to being his likable cute self and she got nothing with her very impressive academic career.

She changed into a t-shirt that was probably Theo’s and pajama shorts before going to the fridge and see if there was anything to eat. There was nothing. Unsurprisingly.

"Cerebro can you send the grocery list to the shop for delivery?" she asks, taking out milk for cereal.

"You have not done the grocery list this week, Stiles, should I send the last saved one?"

"Ugh, no" she answers remembering that her last week list had some expensive things for desserts "just send the emergency list"

"The  _ Things I should eat more often _ list has been sent"

"Shut up Cerebro"

She takes her phone to allow the payment and sees a text from Allison.

_ Files revised and delivered. _

_ Your grades are very impressive btw. _

_ How is it that Scott's are so bad? _

She chuckles and sends a thank you. 

Scott was her best friend but she had to admit he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box when it came to academics but he could be a hard worker and his grades always went up with a bit of cajoling and threatening from his mom or Stiles. Or more recently, Allison. She was very happy to hand over that responsibility and honestly, she would also be happy if he got the job even if she didn't.

They had known each other since they were children but Allison had stopped hanging out with them when they reached puberty. While Stiles had never gotten completely rid of her boyish self Allison had become a pretty girl hanging out with the popular crowd and they naturally drifted apart.

Scott and Stiles had kept on being socially awkward and geeky for many more years because while he was very likable and sweet he had also been a fashion disaster with bad skin. Stiles was even worse, she not only didn't have the looks back then, she also had an annoying personality that only a saint like her best friend could stand for long periods of time.

Age had done a great deal for them both. They no longer dressed like hobos, their skin was so much better and Scott was tall like a tree. Stiles was still annoying though, she could get into black moods that made her blunt and rude and still could go talking nonstop for hours but she was more self-aware and didn't do it as often.

She was a grown woman now and even if she thought that the boy that kept sending nasty looks at her in the coffee store by the clinic should go die painfully and slowly with great amounts of humiliation, she made the adult choice and just glared at him until he stopped instead of verbally abusing him. Scott had been so proud of her.

She sighed and flopped down on the couch, the delivery would take a few more minutes and she would have to get up and cook something because she was a responsible adult and wasn't allowed to survive on cereal but in the meantime, she stared blankly at the ceiling wondering if she should be doing some studying or could procrastinate until tomorrow. Her thoughts then drifted to Chaser.

She wasn't sure what to do with Chaser. Exotic animals were very few and very strictly controlled, she had told Chris she wanted to send him to a preserve but that had been her brain spouting bullshit under pressure. 

Preserves didn't just take animals, the ecosystems were too fragile to disrupt them without proper research and procedure and even then, if they were too rare they ended up in labs most of the time.

She took her phone and called one of her dad's friends at the OWLPs offices.

"Stiles" answered the wary voice of Jordan.

"Hey Jordan how have you been, it's been so long," She said sweetly

"Stiles, I just saw you yesterday, what do you want?" He said grumpily

"Can you please send me all the files of missing pets for the last month? or have there been any robbery reports? What about smugglers? Any recent problem with poachers?" she asked in a single breath.

"What is this about?"

"I just want to know if the dog your crew send is someone's pet"

"Which is actually my job and you don't need any of that confidential information. I can just tell you"

"Oh, really? I haven't even sent you his info yet"

"I don't need it, it is rare enough that I can work with just a general description, doesn't match any reports, no pets like it anywhere in the city. He was probably smuggled, why so interested though? and why haven't you sent his data?"

"First, I am always very interested in all of my patients, I take issue with you implying otherwise, and second, I just got it today man. I know I'm super efficient and an amazing worker and extraordinary..."

"Stiles" his grumpy voice interrupts her rambling

"Ugh, I just don't like it when they end up at the labs," she says and can hear Jordan's heavy sigh in her ear

"There's no much that can be done about that"

"I know, I was hoping it was someone's pet, I even got Chris not to open a case about him"

"Well, you could have saved yourself the trouble given that I will open a case on him"

"Now you are just being mean"

"Stiles even if there was no case you still have to report all of your patients"

"I know that. I just wanted a little time to figure sometime out"

"There's nothing to figure out. Animals are either pets, at preserves or at labs, and that dog is not going to a preserve any time soon"

"You know what," She says suddenly realizing something "you are absolutely right, but can you give me until tomorrow?"

"Only if you promise not to do anything illegal" he says

"I promise that I will not do anything illegal" Why did everyone assume she would do Illegal things?

"All right, I'll wait until tomorrow" Jordan says reluctantly wondering about how truthful Stiles was being.

"Thanks, dude you are awesome"

Stiles says and hangs up before going to her computer and preparing herself to have some more talks with questionable people about doing questionable things. Hopefully not too illegal.

"Stiles, the grocery shop delivery has arrived"

"Shut up, Cerebro" 

  
  



	3. Dog Cage

Peter can hear her sluggish footsteps before she enters. She is looking grumpy and hunching over her coffee mug. The girl obviously didn't sleep enough, he hopes it was nightmares or something equally disturbing. 

The rest of the occupants of the room immediately start to be obnoxious and noisy, begging for attention and he watches as she sets aside her coffee and starts to make a round of the kennels. Placing freshwater, food, and fixing IV’s between yawns. 

Peter would kill someone for the coffee mug that she is just letting get cold, the ungrateful little monster. 

He has been restless and jumping at every sound all night. It was impossible to sleep in this godforsaken place and he is still in pain. He is tired and hasn't had any coffee in so long he can't even remember when was the last time and she is just letting that coffee get cold... 

She should just drink it instead of taunting him with the smell. Gods he wants to kill something. Preferably all the inhabitants of this place. 

The rest of the animals at the clinic are some horrible abominations that look like a breed between a rabbit and a cat and the one beside his cage has been yipping excitedly at him every time the thing notices he is awake. Peter wants to eat it. 

There is also a cat with a shiny sand coat that he has yet to catch blinking. It has been staring at Peter all damn night, he tried growling at it but the racket that came with the sound was not worth it. 

The boy that had made the rounds at night had gasped and gawked at him with star-struck eyes for a good two minutes before doing his damn job and leaving. Peter had wanted to eat him too. 

He feels so tired he is not sure he could even catch the tiny thing beside him and the girl just comes in with coffee like she is mocking him. She hasn't even drink it but she is looking more awake when she is finally at the end of the room, checking on the cat. 

“Morning sunshine,” she coos at the cat and takes him out to put on a table “how is your majestic self feeling this morning, Apollo? Is your throat better?” 

Apparently, she is silly with all her patients, or maybe she is just silly. She may even look the part, she dresses in oversized sweaters and jeans and her hair is short and wild. It somehow works for her, she looks whimsical instead of ridiculous but just barely, he is not sure about that cat pattern. 

“Good morning!” The cheery voice of the human friend comes in, as irritating as the yipping little things. “How is Apollo doing?”

“I think the treatment is working, his throat doesn't feel swollen anymore” 

With a final yawn, the girl puts Apollo in his cage and retrieves her coffee while the boy comes closer to his cage.

“you look tired, didn’t sleep?” He asks, glancing at Peter with suspicious eyes “you said he is friendly right?” 

“I’ll check on him, you do the rest,” she says and the boy goes to take the ugly thing in the cage next to his with obvious relief. 

“Hello there,” she says softly at him over her cold coffee. She has eyes the color of honey and three moles at the end of her smile, he swallows down a growl. 

He may hate her but she will be more useful than the rest. As long as she is not scared. He wonders if she is going to take him out, honestly he doesn’t care much. He is tired and could sleep all day without a problem. 

“So.. did Theo come by or something?” 

“No, you know I only see him on weekends. I was just up late… working” 

“Oh. Things are still weird between you two?”

“I'm going to break up with him” she says casually, crouching before him and frowning at his plate still full of food. 

“Oh,” The boy lets out like a surprised squeak.

“What?” she asks, glancing at her friend with a preemptive frown, ready to defend whatever unimportant decision she is making about her love life. 

“Nothing! Nothing... just you guys have been together for like two years you know”

“Yes I know, I was there” She says with an eye roll that only Peter can see “Why aren’t you eating love? Are you in pain? I rather you eat before your next pill” 

Well, Peter would rather this place got blown up, tough luck. And yes he is in a shit load of pain actually. The friend turns around to put Peter’s neighbor back in its place and the girl frowns at him when she sees his pinched expression. 

Perfect, just what he needed to make his morning, some stupid drama about someone’s boyfriend. 

“Why are you making that face Scott?” 

“What face? I'm not making any face” he is definitely making some face, a cornered prey sort of face Peter would say. 

“That face. You don’t even like Theo so why are you making that face like you want to say something but won’t” 

“I do like Theo,” He says, his voice gradually reaching higher and more irritating picks.

“No, you don’t,” she says crossing her arms as if she could ever be threatening in her cat sweaters and five feet height. “you think he is a jerk, and you would be correct about it, which is why I'm breaking up with him. So why the face?”

“I'm not making a face!” he whines before giving a defeated sigh “I just thought you were a good match and you should give him another chance.” 

“Well, I don’t see why,” she says and comes back to open his cage. 

“Dude, are you just going to let him out?” The friend asks, alarmed.

“Yes? I want to see if he has a fever or something, he is not eating” she says and stands up to let him out. Peter limps out like a good dog and resists the urge to sink his teeth on someone's heels.

“Mmm, he is really much friendlier than he looks,” The friend says when Peter goes to sit at the girl's side. “So, are you breaking up with him because of the thing at that party?” 

“If you mean the thing where he kissed his ex, I guess so, yeah?” 

Their lives are so peaceful... Why don't they just shut up and start working? Aren't these kids getting paid? Where is their damn boss? 

“But why now? It's been almost a month now, I thought you wanted to give him a chance. And it was just a kiss.” 

“Is that what you plan to tell Allison when you make out with Kira?” she asks and they watch the friend going red and nervous. 

“I would never do that, why would you say that?” He squeaks.

“I saw you at the party,” She says before finally paying him the proper attention and scanning him with a glowing stick that presumably takes his vitals. 

“I did nothing! You saw nothing!” He says and she just raises an eyebrow. Peter should have guessed that she would be the predator between the two, the boy looks like a bunny “Fine! She was really nice and I was having a lot of fun with her, but I would never do that to Ally! I didn’t even ask for her number or anything I wouldn’t.” 

“I know that Scotty, because you are not an asshole, like Theo. Did he put you up to this?” She asks while pressing the button at the top of his cage and dragging his file to float in front of her face.

“No." The boy answers and seems to struggle with what to say, it doesn't surprise Peter that he has trouble with his words. "You are right I do think he is a bit of a jerk, but I also think you are a good match.” 

“So you think I should be with a jerk?” she says distractedly while looking at the floating file “this must be wrong,” she mutters.

“No. Yes? I mean you are a bit of a jerk too, and he is the longest relationship you ever had,” he says checking on the occupant of the last kennel.

“Well Scott that’s just plain rude and a lie. I’m the nicest and I shouldn’t settle for a jerk. You are an awful friend” she says lifting her head for a moment before turning back to the file and pressing the button to close it “and I'm going to send that again” she mutters and Peter wonders what the hell his file could look like.

He was technically a wolf right now but there may be slight differences with a real one. He wouldn't know. He should get out of this place soon. 

“I’m just saying, you don’t do well with nice guys,” The friend says with a shrug.

“So I should just date jerks? You are seriously the worst friend, I’m replacing you, you are fired.” 

“With who?” 

“With Chaser, obviously” 

Peter is not feeling very flattered by that statement. He yawns so the girl will give him the damn pill and leave him alone.

“He seems interested in the position” the boy jokes “And I don’t think you should only date jerks. I just want to know if you are sure about breaking up with this one.” 

“I'm sure, and it’s not about the party, this was just going to happen eventually. And what do you mean I don’t do well with nice guys? I totally do.”

“No, no you don’t. I’m going to take the front shop”

“Who is the asshole now?” She says when the friend is going out “I'm not that bad I swear,” she says looking at him. Peter really doesn't care at all. “Come out a bit, love. Let's see if there is something else you can try eating before your meds” 

That he is interested in so he follows her to a room he hasn’t seen before, it has a couch, an old examination table, a fridge, and cabinets full of collars, leashes, toys, blankets and a lot of pet things. 

She takes out a can of soft food, and Peter wants to groan… those things are disgusting. As if she read his thoughts the girl looks dubiously at the can before putting it back and going to the fridge, and she takes out a cube of something. 

He watches eagerly while she lets the cube on the transforming dish and it starts to take the form of what smells like chicken. Then she takes out of the fridge a container that has  _ Scott _ clearly labeled on it, takes out the sandwich, removes the ham, and almost empties a bottle of hot sauce on it before putting it back. Then she offers him the stolen ham. 

“Ah, so you are just a picky eater,” she tells him like she didn’t just pull a prank a second before “that’s not good Remus I can’t just feed you ham and chicken.” 

Ah, again with the names. He is sort of glad she didn’t stick with Chaser. He eats, takes his meds, and goes back to sleep regretting a little that he won’t get to see how the prank works. 

He can still hear her nearby after she leaves the room. 

“So what were you working on last night?”

“I was figuring out how to keep Remus out of the labs” she says. 

“Remus, I like that one. So did you figure something out?” 

“Yeah, cause I’m a nice person Scott and I help animals in need. I am also a freaking genius.” 

“That you do, you love animals. People not so much.” 

“People are jerks” 

Peter has to agree with her on this one.


	4. Going Home

“So how did you?” Scott asks while they are checking the delivery list of food supplies for the clinic. 

“How what?”

“How did you manage to keep Remus from going to a lab?” 

Stiles is touched that he doesn’t doubt what she did, he just wants to know how she did it, she almost feels bad about his sandwich.

“Well, last night was a long long tiresome night of research, paperwork, and inappropriate phone calls that...”

“Bilinski!” Coach interrupts her, entering the storage room with an uncharacteristic frown “why did I get a notice from the High Hills preserve notifying me that they have an excess in  _ canidae _ and want our clinic to handle the sale?”

“Well, Coach I guess they are doing great over there.”

“Stiles, what did you do?” asks Scott with his worried face. 

“It was not illegal. I just checked their records and...”

“Stiles!” the loud angry voice of Jordan comes from the hallway right before he barges in all angry and scary. For a guy with the face of your next-door neighbor, he can be pretty intimidating.

“Hey, Jordan.”

“Stiles, did you hack into the clinic's security system?” 

“Well…That really depends on how you see it...”

“You promised not to do anything illegal! Seriously, why in the world did I think you would listen this time?” He says using his fingers to relieve what must be a lot of pressure from his forehead.

“That’s a fair question,” she agrees softly. 

“So you did hack into the clinic’s system?” asks Finstock.

“But is it really hacking if you know the password?” She tries to reason.

“How do you know the password?” asks Scott.

“It's his wedding anniversary,” she explains “very sweet but not very safe, you need to change that. This is a high-security facility, Jordan.”

“Stiles, shut up! Just… why the hell would you do that? you know if it was anyone else you would be in jail right now.”

“It really is a bad password, don't you use bio scans?” Finstock asks, he doesn't look all too concerned. 

“Of course we do! I don’t know how she sneaked through those either” 

“So... Why did you?” asks Scott, inappropriately eager.

How was Stiles supposed to answer that, she had done it only because she knew that even if she got caught Jordan would not tell on her. She hadn’t expected to get caught either. She would have to check with Dany about it, Cerebro was supposed to be untraceable. 

She honestly felt bad about making him mad. Jordan was a good friend who had worked under her dad for many years, which was the reason she got a pass on most of her misdemeanors around the clinic. She usually tried not to push it since he was a nice guy and she didn’t like him getting angry and stressed. 

She would have still done it tough.

Apparently, Cerebro needed some updates but her plan had been solid and the chances of causing him any real trouble were still minimal, nobody would look twice at this case, and even if they did Jordan wasn’t guilty of anything, which was the exact reason she opted for asking forgiveness instead of permission. 

In any case, it was done and it had gone well. She had hacked Jordan, taken the files of the suspected smuggler's case, cleaned it out of any distinctive description of Remus, and sent it. The system would detect it as an error, a glitch that caused a loss of data, and would send back the incomplete file, this process would take about a week. 

Time enough for Remus to get bogusly accepted on a Preserve, being left to the clinic for treatment, and then get sold for overpopulation. 

All without attracting any attention until after the clinic deemed it appropriate to put him on sale. 

She had been very proud of herself for finding out that little bit of bureaucratic scheme. Not that she would tell Jordan that. She explained her stroke of genius in the most guilty fashion she was capable of. It didn’t seem like he was buying it. 

So she put on her best contrite face and listened to Jordan rant about the law for a good twenty minutes saying sorry and doing her best impression of meek and angelic. She had been told it was a very bad impression. 

“How did you get the preserve to accept this?” asks Coach who still didn’t seem upset at all, just sort of curious. 

“I asked nicely”

“You know what, I’m actually okay with that answer, I don’t really want to know” 

“Neither do I, that was enough of covering your ass for one day,” Jordan says, still trying to strangle her with the force of his mind. 

“So, when are you taking him home?” Asks Scott.

“What?”

“Your new do, when are you taking him home.” 

“I wasn’t planning on adopting him, I don’t have the money, I can’t take care of him, I'll just find him an owner.”

“Are you sure?” Scott asks alarmed “You seem to really like him, I mean you did all that and you are not going to find one like him ever again.”

“And you do know that the clinic workers don’t have to pay for a permit don’t you?” Finstock asks.

“Yeah but…” could she? “Anyway, I’m sorry Jordan I promise to let you know beforehand next time” 

“I'm just going to ignore that,” He says and walks out.

“You know, it wasn't actually illegal. I mean the thing with the preserve, not his files. I could have asked Jordan to delay it and it would have been fine. It's been done before, I checked.” 

Stiles spends all her workday thinking about Remus and if she can actually take him home. She does have the money, money she has been saving for her traveling and living expenses when she goes to Beacon Hills. Sharing meals with one dog shouldn’t starve her. 

Maybe she could. She really liked the dog, he seemed to like her too and she would not have the chance to have one like him possibly ever again. She was being stupid, she could totally do this. 

“So what do you think about going home with me?” 

In all honesty, Peter is rather ambivalent about it. On one hand, he just wants the girl to go rot in hell, on the other hand, he doesn't want to rot in this hell hole for one more second. 

Thankfully he is not only petty but also very practical so he rests his head on the girl's knee like a good dog. After all, it will be easier to escape from her house than from this place. 

“Hey, Stiles” Isaac greets her, narrowing his eyes at Peter.

“Isaac, what can I do for you”

“Chris send me, says that since you blew it up anyway he wants in on the case, so I came to talk with Jordan about it but he is pissed and told me that you could handle it” 

“Oh, yeah I’ll get you his file, you won't be starting soon though. Not officially at least.” 

“You also have to tell me what you think about it and Chris said that please do not bullshit me” 

“Why would I, I’m about to be her legal owner so I don’t need to bullshit anymore” 

“Seriously?” He asks and if he was a better person Stiles would have thought he looked alarmed. Beneath his sweet-looking face and cherubic curls, Isaac is usually an uncaring asshole so he is probably just shocked. 

“Yup, he is very friendly. With me anyway,” she says looking horribly smug “he did display aggressive behavior with others so maybe some sort of trauma but I think he was just distressed by the situation. And he is too thin and wounded, so either he was neglected, which would be odd because of how expensive they are, or he is a fugitive from somewhere. He doesn't have a tracker so probably an underground lab.”

“And you are just going to adopt him?”

“Yeah, whoever did that, it was illegal, they don’t have the standing to take him back. Even if he had an owner, neglecting him would cancel their permit. And it was illegal ownership anyway, there is no record of any  _ canidae _ with his characteristics” 

“And you are just going to adopt him?”

“You are just repeating yourself, Isaac” 

“Yes, I just can't handle you” 

“Stileeeees!” Scott's angry scream comes from the break room. The girl looks like a little imp with her face splitting grin and bright eyes.

"Well, I guess I'll let you to your work." 

  
  


Stiles does take Peter home. She is delighted. Her boss lends her the Clinics vehicle to transport him and all the stuff she gets for him. Peter is not happy about the dog food. 

“I’m home.”

“Welcome home, Stiles.” 

For a dreadful second, he imagines what kind of vile creature could be sharing living space with this awful girl, and almost wants to run away right when he pictures the silly friend until the voice speaks again.

“Stiles, there is an unauthorized living entity next to you, I am required to call the OWLP offices” 

“Is not unauthorized, I got him legally. Update your data from my work files”

“Congratulations on your new acquisition, Stiles, your finances require revision.”

“Ugh, shut up Cerebro,” she says like she is actually worried.

Her house is nice enough that he doesn't think she has financial troubles but he also knows she is an orphan and this may be a government temporary house. 

“Come here boy, I’ll show you your room,” The girl says and walks to the back of the house. 

Peter follows taking notice of everything around him.

The house is a mess, there are dirty dishes on the coffee table in front of the screenwall, obviously the remains of her dinner. The dishwasher is full, the cushions on the couch are all over the place, including the floor, and there are three different blankets in the living room decorating the place with the help of a blue brassiere. 

The backyard it’s an elevated square surface that hangs above the lower levels, the two glass walls allow a partial view of some of the city gardens and there is a removable dome that can be put completely or partially. Right now it covers less than half of the square

The floor is a smooth natural stone and mud. There is a small table with a cocoon-like chair beneath the partial roof, that looks cozy. On the mud part of the floor, there is a single three, skinny and just a bit taller than the girl. An oak tree. In the center of it all, there is a small circular pond with crystal clear water.

“Remus, this is Mr. Oak, Mr. oak is almost fifteen years old, and not to gloat but my baby is the most beautiful and oldest natural tree in the city,” She says totally gloating “So I’m assuming you’ll feel more comfortable in here but you have to promise not to hurt my baby,” she says removing his leash and collar “So no digging out its roots alright boy? It’s been difficult keeping him alive, you should probably abstain from peeing on it, but I can only ask for so much” 

While she puts a dog bed and bowls on the stone floor for him, Peter sniffs around her yard. It's a nice space, small but obviously loved, the tree is not the only plant in here either. There are pots with succulents and a fern. 

The girl picks the smallest pots with her little succulents and puts them on top of the table, obviously worried he would harm them. She scratches his ears a bit before walking out. 

Peter had not seen a tree in too long and the smell of living earth is comforting. It certainly is a step up from the kennel.

The rest of the house smells only like her, if he puts the effort into it he can catch the faint traces of some unknown male but it is obvious that she doesn't bring people often. 

He had already noticed she doesn't use any kind of perfume on herself and assumed it was a quirk of her job but her house is free of artificial scents too. He can smell the sanitizers she uses to clean the house but there is no pine or lavender scent sticking around. 

She may not be as terrible a monster as he thought. 

She comes out of her room in loose pants and a big t-shirt, obviously not hers. 

“So what to do” She mumbles in the kitchen where she puts the dishwasher at work before going to her fridge and he follows her inside. “Feeling like celebratory steak on your new home? we can throw in some vegetables since I just got groceries. You like carrots?” 

Peter is starting to think that this girl may actually be tolerable. 

He patiently waits for her to do the cooking until she starts to mess it up. Tail wagging lazily he gets up and stares at her and then to the meat in obvious request when the meat starts to overcook. 

“Yes, there is some for you,” she says “just give me a minute or I’ll burn this thing, how I still manage to burn things after arranging the settings is a real mystery to me,” she mumbles to herself “it must be Cerebro’s fault” 

“My settings are not at fault, you simply disregard them” 

“That may be truth... but sometimes I want some variety in my food, I can't live by settings all the time” 

Peter would like to point out that meat usually has a perfect cooking point and there is no reasonable excuse to burn a steak with an electronic pan. It simply doesn't happen. 

Once she is finished she takes the plain none seasoned and overcooked meat from the pan before putting them aside on a plate and cutting it for him. She puts her own while his share cools down and after throwing in some carrots she goes to the backyard to put it in the dog plate that already has some dog food in it. 

She frowns unamused when he devours the meat and leaves all of his dog food untouched. 

“You can be this picky Remus, I can't feed you steak every day,” She says and goes back to her own food, Peter follows her to the table and stares at her some more. 

“I don’t think it is a good idea to give you this love, it’s too spicy for you, you’ll have to wait until breakfast tomorrow or just eat the dog food. It's good for you, lots of nutrients and good stuff.” 

Peter would like to tell her what he thinks about that  _ good stuff _ but he can only stare at her until she gives in and gives him some more carrots. Her cooking may be terrible and he is not especially fond of carrots but this is still the most satisfying meal he has had in too long. 

  
  



	5. Domestic Wolf

Having a pet is surprisingly easy.

Like… abnormally easy. 

Remus is house trained, he hasn’t done a single thing of what Stiles expected him to do. He is not restless, he hasn’t destroyed any of the furniture or small objects in the house, he doesn’t pee inside. Stiles didn’t come back from work to a house rained with the stuffing of her pillows or her chairs chewed or her pot plants destroyed. 

Remus is quiet and relaxed all the time. Almost too relaxed. 

She has never had a pet before but isn’t there an adjustment period or something? Is that a human thing? Do dogs are happy in whatever house as long as they have food? And why doesn’t she know any of this when she is a vet? This wasn’t covered in any of her classes with enough detail. She always tells owners to check for abnormal behavior but what the hell does that even mean? 

Is it abnormal for Remus to have such judgment in his eyes every time she cooks? Or is she losing her mind and is projecting her own thoughts about her cooking skills on her dog? 

In any case, Remus is a weird dog. A weird wolf. 

She had gone through the lab results at the clinic again, and again. The number of weird things in that report only started with his genetic reading not matching any known species. Not entirely at least. He had the same slight difference that a dog had with a wolf, 99.9 % of the DNA matched, technically the same species but with substantial distinctions. 

Brain size, dental shape, and endocrine system were only a few of them. He was clearly not a dog but he wasn't exactly a wolf either. Even if the differences were too subtle to notice without a proper exam. 

The only thing Stiles could think of was that he had not been made out of existing wolf and dog DNA but by engineering DNA to mimic a wolf. It was the same technology used to create City Parks and House Pets and if they had, it was a pretty amazing result for an underground laboratory. 

“You are not supposed to be domesticated,” She told him absently while going through all the little things that didn’t add up. Remus's fluffy tail flops lazily in response. 

The age didn’t match either. The results showed he was ten years old, firmly into old age in any wolf or dog but he looked like a young wolf. Even with his injuries and malnourishment, he was obviously in his prime and that was something no lab could manage. 

Premature aging was only one of the many problems there was not a solution for when maintaining vegetation and fauna alive. 

“Stiles, the eggs are burning, the pan will turn off now” 

“Shit…” Stiles said looking down at her ruined breakfast and plating it “Do you want some Remus?” she asks, offering the burned goods to Remus who turns his pretentious snout away and leaves the kitchen now that there are no edibles on sight. 

“Stiles, you have an incoming call from Allison” 

“All right,” she says, grabbing some cereal and the ceiling's reflectors light up to form a flat image in front of her that follows her to the table. The screen shows not Allison but Scott with a huge grin on his face and holding a House Pet. 

“Stiles, look, look!” he says holding up an animal as fluffy as his own hair. 

The soft-looking thing is white with big black spots and huge yellow eyes. It has the floppy ears of a bunny and a long curled tail. 

“I told Allison about you getting a pet last night and she drove us to the store! She wants to do play dates”

“Oh, that's so cute I could barf. What are you calling it?”

“It's a he, and his name is Nugget,” he says proudly before Allison’s voice cuts in from somewhere around Scott.

“It is not! We are not choosing ridiculous food names, not even Stiles did that”

“Well, Remus was picky with his name, and cupcake really didn’t suit him but your new fluffy things resemblance to food it's undeniable” she answers 

“Scott, Stiles can’t vote on the name, she will pick something awful! He already has a name anyways” 

“No, he doesn’t!” Scott says.

After spending some time fawning over Scott’s new pet and arguing about names Stiles ends the call and looks for her own companion. 

Remus is sleeping on her chair again. It's her favorite chair, the one that is in the yard and looks like a nest, and the one she uses when it’s time to relax. Remus has appropriated it since his arrival and not once used his dog bed. Wolf bed. 

She has a wolf pet. Stiles is starting to worry she took on more than she can handle. 

She takes her hovertablet and coffee and pushes Remus away but he refuses to get down so she just settles beside him, it's warm and cozy inside her nest. 

……

Peter gets used to her routine quickly, it’s no hardship since she doesn’t do much besides work and study. He is still healing so apart from food and checking on his wounds they don’t do much else. The girl got an electronic leash and some dog toys from the clinic but fortunately, she hasn’t tried to coax him into using the collar or tried to play with him. 

Peter is definitely not doing tricks for her. 

He gets bored when he is alone but is nice to be able to fall asleep somewhere he feels relatively safe and he does need to rest. Healing is slow and consumes a lot of energy. When she is around is hard to get bored. She always seems to be busy with one thing or the other and mutters to herself constantly or talks to Peter about inane things while cooking or cleaning.

Peter’s favorite time of the day is her night lessons. He sits close and looks at her professor pace around the living room, from time to time the image of another student pops out when someone speaks. 

Peter may not understand half of it but he gets the idea about the cellular malfunctions in lab animals. It's actually very interesting to learn from the human perspective. Peter knows the disease created by the death of the Nemeta but he has never before heard the scientific explanation. For him, it was always the natural decrease in life force because there was nowhere to draw from anymore. 

After classes, the girl usually settles on her cushions and blankets in the living room with her coffee and a hundred files floating around her. She reads and writes and can spend many hours lost to the world. Health care of animals seems to be her usual subject of study but her files on wolves have been steadily increasing. That is fine, as long as she never digs too deep into werewolves she will not make the connection. 

Peter on the other hand is learning a lot about her. 

She works from 7am to 3pm or she may get the night shift when her lessons allow it and will be gone from 5 to11pm. 

Every three days she takes small samples of the soil of her different plants and is rigorous with the upkeep of nutrients. Greenery is an expensive luxury that the girl has managed to maintain by teaching herself. 

He learns that her culinary skills are not as bad as he originally thought, it mainly depends on her mood. If she feels like following a recipe the food turns out just fine but if she is curious or feeling creative it's mostly disastrous. Unfortunately for him, she is often distracted or in a curious mood. He still may shamelessly beg for scraps. 

She does not have much of a social life apart from the clinic friend. The boyfriend has not shown up yet, maybe she already broke up with him over a text like a true asshole.

He learns that she takes some sort of medicine, that her father died six years ago and her mother much earlier. He learns that she is in continuous movement, even when deeply focused her body is restless and fidgeting. Learns that she has unhealthy habits and programmed her AI to remind her to eat. 

And the more he learns the less he wants to know.

The girl is useful in several ways, treating his wounds, feeding him, and keeping him out of sight while he is weak. Things a pack would do for him. He knows he is starving for it and it would not matter if it was Stiles or anyone else, he just wants it. It's frustrating. He should have more control than this, but he has been in this form for too long and instinct is starting to take over his mind. He is still aware, still sane.

He may hate her a little less now that she keeps him safe and fed but it’s only natural. He won’t get attached, it's been only a week since he came to this house.

“Stiles, don’t forget tonight is rain night”

“Yes Cerebro,” she replies absently from where she is reading something upside down on the couch, and Peter can tell she didn’t actually hear that. He settles beside her on the couch and she idly scratches his ears. 

A few hours later the rain starts. Just on time, the terraforming machines shaping dark clouds over the city. A reminder of what used to be. Peter steps out and smells the soil around the little oak get soaked. The smell is weak, the life is weak but still… It soothes him and makes him mourn. 

He howls to the rainy sky, to the artificial clouds and the starving patch of dirt. 

He hears her approach with soft steps lured by the sound. He can hear her heart beating fast and she moves slowly like she is scared or maybe excited. She has probably never before heard a wolf song, never before seen a wolf. 

Peter is a relic, he holds the shape of the ones that have long been gone. All the wolves are dead, maybe all the werewolves are dead too. He will never hear an answering song.

She sits beside him under the rain and stays still as if she doesn't want to intrude. 

She can’t sing with him but she won’t leave either, not tonight at least. So he howls at the rhythm of the rain falling on the pond and the beat of her heart. When he is done Stiles is soaked and looking at him with bright eyes, the raindrops shining on her skin look just as if they were made of real rain.

  
  



	6. Boyfriend/Ex-Boyfriend

“Come on love, let's get you dry,” She says standing up and closing the dome before going inside with Peter following. Stiles towels him and dries his fur with a hairdryer Peter has never actually seen her use on herself. Then she strips out of her wet clothes to dry herself with a towel. 

If he were a decent man Peter would look away. Fortunately, he has never been accused of such a thing and he stares unabashedly at her wet skin, she is all limbs and soft curves. Beautiful like a nymph and it's somewhat surprising. 

She is not modest with her hose attires and goes around half-naked most of the time. The fact that he had not paid proper attention worries him.

Had he been too caught up in his own head to notice? She gives him the perfect chance to redeem himself and walks naked to her room and Peter keeps watching her until she puts on her sleep clothes, yawns, and gets in bed. 

“Night Remus” 

Peter doesn’t go back to his dog bed in the yard, the bed didn’t get wet and the sound and smell of the rain are nice outside but he waits until Stiles falls asleep and curls beside her because she smells nicer and is warmer. 

The next day when Stiles wakes up she smells slightly different. When she takes her hand to her throat and groans Peter realizes she is getting sick. An infection is taking residence in her throat. She wobbles to the bathroom and doesn’t seem to take much notice of it but the day is cold and she should probably stay home. 

Not such a thing though. She gives him breakfast and takes a shower before giving some unenthusiastic munching to her toast and coffee. Peter would love to have some of that, the smell makes his mouth water but he has resigned himself to eat nothing until dinner. If he throws the kibble away and she thinks he ate she is more likely to share her dinner with him. 

Stiles comes home late at night and Peter can smell the sickness more clearly now. She can feel it too so she greets Peter weakly, serves him his dinner, and makes herself chicken soup from which she takes just a few spoons and drinks tea before giving him some of the chicken and going to sleep. 

Peter spends the night there, watching the girl fret in her sleep and shiver despite the blankets. Late at night, Cerebro announces that her fever has reached the state where the AI is required to send a message to her emergency contact but Stiles doesn't wake up to hear that. 

Peter wonders if the fluffy friend will come in the morning and jumps in the bed next to her. 

“Remus? Whatchu doin’ here boy?” she slurs in the middle of the night and cradles weak fingers through his head. Peter nuzzles her hand wondering if she is awake enough to take care of herself and avoid anyone coming. She takes her temperature and groans. 

“No wonder I feel so awful... I guess I’ll just sleep it off” She sips a bit of water and settles back in bed still shivering. Peter stays on the bed and lies down flush against her. She is either too sick to care or too cold to reject the extra warm. “good boy” she mumbles before falling asleep again.

“Stiles, Theo is at the door” Cerebro’s voice wakes them up.

He growls softly at Stiles when she gets out of bed, she chuckles at him still weak and sleepy. She looks better than last night but he can tell she is still feverish.

"What's Theo doing here?" She mutters “Let him in Cerebro,” she says louder and walks to the living room to greet him.

“Hey Theo” 

This is the first time Peter has seen Theo, the boyfriend. He has heard a lot about him and this guy doesn’t really fit the image of the little jerkass Stiles makes him out to be. 

He is probably Stiles' age and there is still something boyish to his face. Tall and broad but more pretty than handsome and somehow carries the charm of a mischievous child. A bit like Stiles actually. He can see how they would fit. 

“You look like shit” the little jerk greets her with a kiss on the forehead and hands her a bag “here is some stuff, I got a message you were sick”

“Thanks, sorry, I guess Cerebro did that. You didn’t have to come, though,” She says taking the bag to the kitchen table.

“It’s fine, you are sick and we haven’t seen each other in a while” 

He prowls around the guy waiting for him to notice. When he does Peter gets rewarded by his startled jump and high-pitched scream.

“The fuck is that?!”

“Oh, this is Remus,” Stiles says happily, going to him to scratch his ears “Isn’t he gorgeous?” she coos. Peter agrees. 

“You have a… dog?” Theo eyes him with a frown and narrow eyes. 

“Yes,” she says, still petting him and he nudges his head on her stomach, scenting her. She doesn't need it, she already smells like him and he didn't want her to smell like him anyway. He is losing it. 

“So nice of you to let me know. Not like you tell me anything these days. Were you going to mention that you applied for a job in Beacon Hills or were you just going to wait until you move out?” 

“I was going to tell you as soon as I had confirmation,” Stiles says perfectly calm, she goes back to the bag and starts taking out what looks like pills and energy drinks. 

“Is that so? because Scott says it's pretty much a done deal since months ago” he accuses. 

“I did tell you I was going to apply for a position at Beacon Hills Preserve. I would have told you more about it but we were kind of busy having a fight. And Scott is wrong, is a done deal for him but not for me. Not yet anyway.” She looks calm and collected but Peter can hear her heartbeat and her breathing already perturbed by her illness and he can see her fidgeting with the pills more than she usually does.

“Fucking hell Stiles, has it not occurred to you that your boyfriend wanted to stay updated on your possible leaving the damn city?” he snaps “Or getting a pet?”

“Calm the fuck down,” Stiles says cradling fingers on his fur again “And no, I think it didn’t occur to me to keep you posted after the last hundred times you avoided the subject of my work.”

“Avoided the subject? You are the one who has been avoiding me for weeks,” he hisses through clenched teeth.

“Well, that had nothing to do with my job, that was me letting it sink that we are mostly done.”

“I fucking knew it!” He says slamming his hand on the table. Peter growls and the boy's eyes flicker to him for a second before snapping back to Stiles. When he talks next his voice is fractionally lower “Why are you doing this Stiles? Is it still about Anna? Because you know...”

“It's not about her! It's about us, or about me, I want to break up” She interrupts him, and this time she meets his eyes. “we fight too much, we are not working anymore”

“We don’t fight too much, is there someone else?” 

“There's no one else, and it has nothing to do with anyone outside the two of us. We have been together for a while now and we get along decently but is not like we are falling in love or anything. We don’t even have things in common.”

“Of course we do! And if you told me more about yourself we would have more!” 

“Silly me that was imagining how damn bored you get when I talk about my work. Look you are just mad right now because you haven't had time to think about this, and because Scott told you I actually have a chance. This has been my dream for years, you have always known that. And you also know we weren't going to be a permanent thing.” 

“Shit. Stiles, do you really think so little of me?” He says appearing hurt but Peter can't help to think he is just trying for a guilt trip “I'm not mad that you have a chance at your dream work! it’s all you ever talk about but what about me? What about us?” 

It’s working, Stiles is upset, she actually looks cowered with her arms crossed and her eyes down, half a step farther from Theo. What is this little prick thinking picking a fight with a sick person? Peter wonders for a second if he should just go ahead and take a bite before Stiles is lashing out.

“Stop your bullshit, Theo! Like you fucking care. I don’t even know why you like me because you are such a shitty boyfriend you haven’t bothered to tell me in the two years we have been together. The only time you communicate with me is when we fuck and guess what you are not the only person with a dick, half the population has one! So you can just go and piss the hell off!” she ends up yelling and in a fit of cough.

Theo makes a move to approach but Peter snarls at him. 

“You know what? you are fucking right. I don’t even know why the hell I liked you” he says derisively and stormes out.

Stiles is running fingers through him, calming herself down from the cough soo Peter settles beside her and lets himself be hugged and nervously touched. He nudges his cold nose on Stiles cheek and neck and licks at the corner of her eyes, bright with unshed tears until she takes a deep breath.

“Well… Can’t say I didn’t totally see this trainwreck coming. Let’s get you breakfast love” She says at him and gets up on shaky legs. 

Stiles is still feverish that night and there is no one to take care of her. Her fever is alarmingly high now and she is not waking up to the discomfort like last night. He tries to wake her up but it doesn’t work. Stiles mumbles incoherent things about her mother and her smell is hot and sweet in an unpleasant way. 

He wonders if he could shift. 

It has been worrying him for a while now, shapeshifting was difficult, even more so after he lost his pack. He had not done it for years before his escape from the Detachment, the full moon was weeks away, and he was still injured. Attempting shifting was a bad idea but he couldn't help to wonder if he should anyway.

He remembers his mother telling them that shifting was a rare gift that should not be abused. Peter had stayed in this shape for too long. How much longer before he couldn’t go back. Could he go back? He was already displaying uncharacteristic behavior towards the girl, not unexpected but not to take lightly either.

He will try once he is healed when the moon is full. 

Stiles won't die tonight Cerebro must be programmed to call the hospital if necessary but he can't sleep with her fidgeting so much. He tries again to wake her up, she didn't took anything before falling asleep and hopefully, this is just a cold. It will go away soon enough.

She does get up and takes her pills after much probing and licking and a bit of biting and whining. She even checks his water and food before passing out again.

Stiles's sleep is more relaxed now. She smells sick but he still brushes her hairline with his nose, trying to catch her untainted scent, like fresh air and something nostalgic like trees and earth. 

He really should try and shift back.

  
  



End file.
